In April 2013, the House Homeland Security Committee submitted H.R. 1417 Border Security Act of 2013. Yes, other legislation is in the works, but keep in mind that H.R. 1417 represents what this Republican Majority Committee is willing to allow. Do we have enough other-minded, true Conservatives to kill this mindset? The bill does not specify that a fence must be built, in fact the word “fence” does not appear in the legislation at all. The bill is authored by Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul and Committee Member Candice Miller. It is vague (think ObamaCare) with no measures specifically delineated. They have given all responsibility for details – even a requirement for a possible fence, and a requirement to fix the broken Visa process – to administration officials – unelected bureaucrats, not your elected representatives. So no matter what happens with H.R.1417, let them know how you feels about this betrayal, and continue to do so daily, if you can. This is the House Homeland Security Committee, with the majority in control – and being introduced, we see what some Republicans is acceptable for We The People to endure. Find contact information for all GOP members of the Committee below.

Michael McCaul, Chairman of U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee

The full “comprehensive strategy” is not required to be in effect until two years after H.R. 1417 is passed. The Homeland Security Secretary must submit a “comprehensive strategy” within 120 days passage. Every 180 days an update must be submitted to Congress and an Inspector General and the GAO will later receive Committee reports.

The crux of the legislation is “Operational Control” with no parameters.

(4) OPERATIONAL CONTROL.—The term ‘‘operational control’’ means a condition in which there is a 90 percent probability that illegal border crossers
are apprehended and narcotics and other contraband are seized in high traffic areas.

Radio Talk Show Host Hugh Hewett interviewed Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) who is a member of the Homeland Security Committee. Hewitt was not successful in getting Barletta to say that the House will assure us a fence will be built.

Barletta states that 50 percent of illegals enter this country by flying into a city on a legal Visa and then choosing to stay. The Visa procedure is broken. No one in either Chamber of Congress is willing to begin with requiring Visa exits and building a fence. Why not? That is the problem.

Barletta says he will not vote for any bill that will not secure airports, seaports and land entries…says he is not focusing on just one area.

Hugh Hewitt: But Congressman, when people hear you say that, I honestly don’t know that Republicans get that. They don’t hear anything you say. They hear you not saying fence. They don’t believe Republicans who say border security, operational control, seaports, visas, because it’s all viewed as an extended way of avoiding saying I will vote for a fence, we will get it built. For whatever reason, Republicans will not say what their supporters want them to say, which is we will build the fence.

Hewitt agrees that there are areas where a fence cannot be built, but he stops Barletta short by saying “No, there’s not that many, no.”

Barletta says he does not want to deceive “the American people” by assuring them that a fence will stop all illegal land entries, he doesn’t want “the American people” to have a “false sense of security.”

The interview takes a commercial break with Hewitt saying this:

Hugh Hewitt: When I come back with Congressman Barletta, I’m going to make one more valiant attempt with a Republican congressman to explain that we are not dumb out here. We get it. There’s a lot of different aspects to the problem, but one of the major aspects of the problem is the Southern border. There’s at least a thousand miles of it that need a fence on it for which there is no fence, and Republican congressmen refuse to commit to that. And as long as they refuse to commit to that, they’re going to continue to have on their hands angry, angry constituents who feel condescended to.

Hugh Hewitt: Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. Why in the world would anyone believe that Congress could fix the much more difficult problem of visa overstays and background if they can’t solve the easy problem of building a fence?…

But 1417 is a terrible bill. The bill that Homeland Security put forward is as bad as the Senate bill. And so why would anyone trust you guys to fix anything if you can’t build a simple fence? Why would we let you build the house if you can’t put the fence around it?…Source: Breitbart

Here is contact information to use as we go forward, not solely with H.R. 1417, but with any coming “reform” legislation. Please make good use of it, pass it on to family and friends, phone, fax, call, email if you see your Representative’s name below, Facebook and Twitter – over and over until we kill the insanity.

Tell those listed below to work out every detail – to actually write the law they are trying to foist on us – every detail of it, and then submit the legislation for consideration.